After moving to the farm nearly two decades ago, we tilled a small plot south of the barn for our vegetable and fruit garden. The garden slowly evolved and when we grew tired of fending off our chickens, deer and our dog, we decided to create a defined space by fencing in a 40′ x 40′ area.
I used mound gardening to help with drainage and to create defined rows and it was a highly productive space. For the walking paths in between the mounded rows, I mulched with newspaper or paper bags covered with grass clippings or leaves. Like most vegetable gardens, each year would start out looking lovely. By mid-summer, I would start losing the battle to the weeds and the garden would become overgrown and unsightly. It started to feel like a lot of work and I was longing for something lower maintenance and more visually pleasing. And that is when I decided to create a potager garden.
What is a “potager”?
So, what exactly is a “potager” garden? “Potager” is a french word that translates to “kitchen garden.” I first became familiar with the concept of a potager while touring the beautiful chateaus of the Loire Valley in 2003. The kitchen gardens of the chateaus were not only productive vegetable gardens, but they were also beautiful to look at. And that is the essence of a potager: an ornamental vegetable garden that intermixes flowers and other design elements to make it visually appealing, as well as productive.
Designing a Layout
Like most of the projects that happen around here, my potager garden started out as a vague vision. I had the 40′ x 40′ parameter of the fenced in area to work with in coming up with a design. I pulled out some graph paper and started laying out some possibilities.
A common principle in garden design is to create a focal point to catch the eye in a space. In my potager, I decided to use a raised round bed as the focal point. Once that was in place in the center, I started laying out beds around that anchor.
Although the soil was fairly good in our existing vegetable garden, we decided to construct raised beds throughout. There are so many benefits to raised beds: good drainage, no tilling or soil compaction, easier on the back, warmer soil temps early in the season for a jump start on growing, etc. Raised beds would also help me create the clean, organized look I knew I wanted for my potager.
In order to optimize our limited space, we had to figure out the minimize size for walking paths between beds. We did not want it to feel too crowded and we also wanted the functionality of being able to navigate my garden cart and a wheelbarrow through the beds for garden cleanup and other chores. We decided to make the main alley 4 feet wide and we concluded that a minimum of 2.5 feet was needed for all the other paths. Once the beds were established, I started sketching out my ideas for my first planting.
Raised Bed Construction
The next decision was what material to use for the bed construction. There is a lot of information out there on whether using treated wood, galvanized steel, cinder blocks, etc. is safe. We read through loads of material and ultimately decided that we would opt for using rough sawn white oak. Raised beds made out of wood will not last forever, but we should get a solid decade or so before we have to start replacing them.
We contacted a local saw mill and had white oak cut into 2″x 8″ boards. Once we got the (very heavy) wood unloaded, Jesse started to trim the boards to the proper dimensions for the raised beds.
Our fenced in garden area is built on a slight slope, which created a lot of extra work digging out the perimeter to get the beds level. My very patient husband was a real trooper throughout this project. His only real resistance was when he had to drill holes in the bottom of our newly purchased galvanized watering tank that I decided to use for the focal point in the garden. For a farm kid, this seemed nonsensical to put holes in a perfectly good tank.
We had some garden soil delivered to fill the beds. The composition of the soil was as follows: 40% compost, 35% screened/pulverized peaty top soil, 15% clay silt and 10% select granular sand.
Pathways for Weed Control
I started planting seeds as soon as the weather permitted. It was not long before things started to green up. We then moved on to the next task of making the pathways.
To minimize weeds, we first put down heavy duty landscape fabric. I selected crushed granite for the walkways so that it would compact down and be easy to walk on and pull my garden cart around.
Drip Irrigation System
The next step was to install a drip irrigation system in the raised beds to minimize the need for hand-watering. We learned quickly that raised beds dry out much faster and need a more regular supply of water. Jesse ran the drip tubing in the beds and ran the connecting hoses down the pathways and under the side of each bed.
Since the plants were already growing, we had to lay the drip tubing on top of the soil for the first season.
Finally, once the tubing was set in place, we brought in the remainder of the crushed granite to create solid pathways and hopefully minimize weeds. And that was a wrap for season one of our potager!
Not only do I enjoy tending to my garden more now, I truly look forward to just spending time in this lovely new space! I can also happily report that not only was it beautiful to look at, that first year was a very productive garden as well.